Bamboos will spread in open ground, even a clumping one. If you are going to plant straight into the ground, put in a bamboo barrier that has to encircle the whole area where you want the bamboo to grow. Overlap and secure the ends or the bamboo will work its way out. The barrier needs to be planted at depth of at least 2 foot, and leave at least 2/3 inches above the ground. Plant the bamboo in good soil with plenty of organic matter such as well rotted manure in the ground, and water well until established.

Not that I'm an expert on this shrub but having one in the garden I notice that if you leave it to grow it will put on a lot of new leaf as it spreads out, but the older leaves that are left in the centre of the plant fall off. In the end, although it looks like quite a dense shrub, because of all the leaves that you can see on the outside, if you poke your head into the shrub, it will be practically leaf free and all you see is a lot of bare wood and stems. You can prune these shrubs hard back and in most cases, after about 2/3 weeks, it will start to put on new leaf, and within 3 months, it could be back to where you started. It is very prolific on putting on new leaf. It probably needs a good trim at least twice a year - March and late September/ early October.

Wow - a clean slate! You mention bamboo but contain it in pots. I'd probably suggest that as you are starting from afresh, you should look to plant the bamboo straight into the ground, but contain it by putting in a planting barrier that will stop it from running (even clumping ones run) across your and your neighbours garden. If you buy a large bamboo then you can pay around £50/£60 for a modest sized pot, but it will already have height to it, so you can get instant impact and privacy. Give it plenty of room to grow and you will have a very good screen of bamboo in no time. Make sure you dig in lots of organic matter, but being on clay you might be alright anyway - clay soil may also slow it down a little. It will need quite a lot of watering until its established.

Another good one to go for is a Pittosporum. Go for a variegated one, in my view, as they do look a lot nicer and provide a bit more interest. Pittosporum can be fast growing, and you can keep them trimmed if you want to keep it in check.

Have a look at Taxus or more commonly known as Yew. Go for a column one, such as Taxus × media 'Hicksii'. It might be a bit slow growing, but over time it can get up to 8m in height. Just be wary if you have children who might be attracted to the berries, which are fine to eat (if they do), but the seeds are poisonous, as are the leaves. Some people are a bit over sensitive to having poisonous plants in the garden!

Have a single species hedge is fine, but if you can afford it, then go for a mixed planted hedge, perhaps made up of a few evergreen and deciduous trees/shrubs and include ones which give interest during the year like nice autumn display or berries for the birds. Look at Pyracantha, which is ever green, fast growing, summer flowers, winter berries, and if you're worried about somebody climbing over your back fence, has 2 inch spikes which are deadly! Pyracantha can be pruned hard and will bounce back, and also can be trained to climb up the fence.

If you want to have something self climbing up/over the fence, look at climbing hydrangea, which will grow in full shade, and has white flowers. It is deciduous.

If you want to help wildlife in the winter, look at ivy - Hedera colchica 'Sulphur Heart'. It is large leafed, and fairly fast growing, evergreen, and its berries feed the birds in the winter, and it will provide a habitat for over wintering bugs and creepies.

I know its always an option especially for cheap and quick, but avoid Leylandii like the plague. Not my favourite shrub is Photenia Red Robin, because it does have a tendency to drop leaves all year, but it is very fast growing, and even if you trim it hard, it will be back to where it was and more in no time at all (another reason I personally don't like it).

Thanks for your comments and help guys. Plant is now in the ground and tucked back of the border to keep its daggers out of harms way. I note your comment Verdun - I've been dancing around the Yucca in a pot for the last 16 years (where although healthy, has not really grown) and I've learned to avoid its sharp points. Whenever I need to go near it now, I simply tie up all the leaves and hold up with an elastic band. I'm hoping its now in the ground it will take off and grow to reach its full potential of around 1.5m to 2.5m Only around 10-15 years to wait!

I've had a Yucca (think its Gloriosa) in a pot for eternity. Spend all summer moving it around the garden as its always in the way! and people always poking themselves on it. It's tips are deadly. Taken decision to plant in ground, but just cleared the loose compost off top and found these just under the surface. Now that I'm planting it in ground, should I plant these above ground level, just below ground level, or about 50:50. I assume these will be new growths coming up?

Just thought I'd report back. Last week I renovated the border where the camellia was and dug up the offending plant, and the roots were no bigger than the pot it came out of four years ago. Not totally clear why because they were fairly loose in the ground and no indication that it was still pot bound. I took the plant up, removed all the soil, plunged it into a bucket of water for an hour, and replanted it in another part of the garden in new soil with combination of well rotted manure, compost and blood fish and bonemeal. Just checked on it today and it's already got signs of throwing new leaf buds out!!

But the plants were growing over from her garden so they were hers to take, not to simply chop Off at the boundary and essentialy drop and leave in my garden. Think of it the other way. Under garden law, if I chopped back at her plants growing into my garden, I have to offer them back to her otherwise she could report me for theft. That's why whenever I do any work on a neighbours plants growing over into my garden I always go around and ask for their permission to chop at their plant and just confirm they dont want them back. Invariably they always say I can proceed, but I like to ask first and not just assume. Common curtesy really. I've seen enough postings in this forum about people taking umbridge at a neighbour just hacking their plants to pieces without talking to the plant owner first and it all leads to neighbourly conflict.

Yes, I'm already in progress with replacing on my side what she has removed from hers. The birds used to love sitting in the climbers and eating the berries during autumn and winter.

Not a lot unfortunately. A new neighbour recently moved in to the house (and garden) that runs along my back fence. The previous owners planted all sorts of climbing plants (hydrangea, pyracantha, ivy, rambling rose, jasmine, etc), all down their side of the fence, which came over the top and came over into my garden, which I didn't mind because I just incorporated it into my garden. It also provided some screening / privacy between each of us. Unfortunately, they moved out and new lady moved in and she has completely decimated EVERYTHING in her garden including removing all the climbing plants on the fence so all I have now is a complete blank fence. To add insult to injury, when she removed the plants, she chopped the climbers off at the top of the fence so everything that was growing on my side just fell I to a heap on my side of the fence and squashed all my plants growing there. She didn't come around to ask if she could take it away and just left it to me to clear up. Took two weekends to clear it and take it to green recycling in my car (my petrol). Somebody said I should have thrown in back over but I'm not one for conflict and as a new neighbour I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt she would evenaturally pop around and apologise. She never did.

I spotted her the other weekend taking pruning shears to another neighbours ivy climbing over the other neighbours garage, with the only offence seemingly that because the garage runs along her garden she thinks she has a right to chop the ivy back.